University scientists have revealed new research that would see electric vehicle batteries replaced by supercapacitors that could be charged in seconds rather than hours – finally making EVs as easy to use as petrol and diesel cars.

The new supercapacitors, which have already proven to be up to 10,000 times more powerful than batteries, are also greener and less harmful to the environment, they claim.

A joint research group from the University of Surrey and University of Bristol is behind the research. The findings were discovered during research into new materials.

Although supercapacitors can store less energy than batteries, they charge up much faster. A 300-mile range on lithium ion batteries could become 150 miles with supercapacitors, but they could be charged up far more quickly, something the group believes people will be happy with.

Tesla boss Elon Musk has already hinted on Twitter that he would back supercapacitor technology.

The research group, which is working with a company called Augmented Optics (which owns Supercapacitor Materials Ltd) has only just gone public after filing patents for its new technology last week.

It is now planning to get a working prototype working by early 2017 as it seeks commercial partners for its breakthrough – and it promises production costs would not be a stumbling block.